Scientific Foundations
How philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience converge to reveal the internal axis that organizes human experience.
The axis before the method
Before science existed, before theory existed, there was a more basic human need: to orient oneself within reality. Human beings do not begin by wanting to measure. They begin by wanting to understand where they are.
Philosophy is born exactly at this point. It does not arise to explain how things work, but to ask something prior: "From where do I look at the world?"
Perceived reality depends on the internal place from which one observes. Before discussing facts, it is necessary to ask from where those facts are being seen.
Before action, there is an internal structure that guides movement. Everything carries an internal direction.
Freedom is not controlling everything, but correctly occupying one's own place.
True freedom is not the absence of conflict, but internal stability in the midst of conflict.
When the world enters from within
Psychology is born when human beings realize that they do not react to the world directly. They react to the way the world is organized internally.
The same event, experienced by different people, produces completely different experiences. Here, the focus shifts away from the environment and turns toward internal experience.
Not everything that governs us is conscious. The world enters from within and continues to act even when it is not perceived.
The world does not enter only through personal experience. It also enters through collective patterns of meaning.
Much of what we call "choice" is a response to learned patterns.
Despite internal and external influences, there exists an experiential core—a tendency toward coherence and development.
When the brain enters the equation
Neuroscience is born when human beings begin to observe the biological substrate of experience: the brain and the nervous system.
Here, the axis is not meaning itself, but the terrain where meaning is processed.
Learning is not merely adding information—it is reorganizing connections. Experience leaves physical marks.
The more a path is traveled, the easier it becomes to follow it again. Changing is building new tracks.
Emotion does not hinder reason. It guides it through somatic markers.
Memory is inscribed in chemical and structural changes. What we live literally shapes the brain we have.
What organizes everything
Throughout all these fields, a question naturally imposes itself: what keeps all of this organized within the human being?
The human axis is not a specific idea. It is not an opinion. It is not an isolated emotion. It is the internal structure that organizes all of these things.
Two people may receive the same information. One expands. The other enters into conflict. What changes is not the external stimulus—it is the internal axis that organizes experience.
The human axis is formed from deep beliefs—not always conscious. Not religious or ideological beliefs, but structural ones:
Is the world safe or hostile?
Are people trustworthy or threatening?
Does error destroy or teach?
Does life have meaning or is it mere survival?
According to the logic of TFB, each human being becomes completely different from one another because of the axis and sub-beliefs. This is a well-studied and logical conclusion.
The more science approaches the understanding that each human being, in their psyche, operates in a unique and structurally different way, the closer it gets to what I observed.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17991355Some ideas do not ask for exposure. They ask for responsibility.
Not everything that is strong needs to be shared. Sometimes, the most ethical thing is to know where to stop.
From Theory to Practice
The Theory of Fundamental Belief can be applied practically in different areas of knowledge, contributing to the scientific, philosophical, psychological, and spiritual advancement of humanity.
In psychology, belief can be understood as the central axis of perception and human behavior. The TFB expands the traditional concept of "core beliefs" from cognitive therapy, proposing that belief is not just mental content, but the very matrix of conscious experience.
The TFB reopens a dialogue between metaphysics and epistemology. It proposes that truth is not discovered, but constructed by the consciousness that believes. This paradigm offers an alternative to postmodern fragmentation, restoring a point of unity between reason and faith.
Registered document — Author: Chris Montgomery | Location: Brazil, São Paulo | Date: November 2025